I'm going to have to take a break from this for a little bit, school is overwhelming me right now and I definitely need to get a working DVD drive. Hopefully this weekend I can do some more testing and report back. Thanks again Rocky5, I will recommend your dash to everyone from now on

Interesting...
So how does one achieve this using iND-BIOS exactly?
I've acquired "CDROM modchip.rar" and "nkpatcher10.zip"
Couldn't find NKPatcher 11 U4 for the life of me...

So my understanding is...
I get iND-BIOS to boot to nkpatcher.xbe
which will inturn boot to XBMC
within a folder I would launch attach.xbe
which then loads the game.iso ???

Correct, kind of, you have compile the source with your dash location. Also the included attach.xbe won't work on the Ind-Bios, you would need to use the original one that comes with the cdromimage source.
(or just use DVD2Xbox in ISO mode when ripping your disc)

I had mine setup to boot NKPatcher.xbe (I named it patcher.xbe) & then that would load my desired dash, or in my case my dashloader, so I don't have to edit the source again.

My first attempt at compiling nkpatcher.xbe seems to have failed...
So I went back a step, got the nkpatcher-67.xbe from nkpatcher10 and transfered it to my apps folder.
Launched it from my dash (XBMC) and if it works it should goto evoxdash.xbe, but it just reboots back to XBMC
I read on another thread you mentioned that nkpatcher is supported in iND5003 but not 5004?
Not sure exactly which BIOS I'm running, its was 5003 from xbins but had the IGR button fix so I always assumed it was 5004...
But the usual places only offer 5003 and almost never 5004, however I did find it here:http://www.noobsandnerds.com/forums/ind ... pic=2274.0

crosscrunchy10 wrote:Yeah I have a v1.6 so that's probably a big part of the problem.

Here's what I'm going to do: I'll copy all of the necessary files (the prep folder, xbmc, the default.cfg) to my xboxhdm flash drive and I will rebuild the drive with those files included so no ftp-ing will be necessary to get the dash installed and running. Obviously I can't put them into the proper place until I run the softmod, so once I run it I will copy them into the proper places using another dash as an app.

If I am still hitting the same issue, is there any way I can run the softmod extras disc from the HDD and install XBMC as a dash that way? I know you say it needs to be burned (similar to slayer's and heXen), but maybe that will work?

I'm going for a run so I'll test it when I'm back

Before I upgraded using Rocky5's softmod, I was on SID 5.12 and it let me run the extras disc from my HDD. I can't now though. Not sure why that is.

Computers & tinkering with different tech. I run a YouTube gaming channel in my spare time: Join the fun!

Wally12 wrote:Before I upgraded using Rocky5's softmod, I was on SID 5.12 and it let me run the extras disc from my HDD. I can't now though. Not sure why that is.

What way did you have it installed to the HDD?

It's not meant to be run from there, even though it can be just some stuff, mainly launching xbe files won't work as they require a absolute path in UnleashX.

Ok, gotcha. It's no longer an issue but I just need to figure out why my PC won't burn discs now, so I can use the extras disc if I ever need to again. Also, I had FTP'ed it to my Xbox in my Applications folder after using C-Xbox Tool on the .iso file. It worked well, minus installing some of the games, but I just FTP'ed those too.

Computers & tinkering with different tech. I run a YouTube gaming channel in my spare time: Join the fun!

1) Is something like this possible with my configuration? Specifically I mean running ISOs directly to avoid issues with long file names or other issues running from FATX on HDD.
I know I can flash extra BIOSes in my other slots on my X3. Perhaps I can flash a second bios that can support this?
I haven't worked with any other BIOS, and I'm not sure if they are superior to the X3 bios or if I will loose any features. I also assumed people using the X3 chip should use the X3 BIOS, but that hasn't been updated in years. Are there other BIOSes that are actually superior to run on the X3?

2) I'm really confused about the patch xbe options that Qwix, dvd2xbox, and some other apps have. What exactly do they patch? I always thought it had something to do with region or maybe file permissions (ACL?) - but it sounds like you guys are saying that they actually perform "game specific" patches to fix things like long file names, etc.
Is there anyway to know what these apps are actually patching for each game?

The problem is my collection is a bit of a mashup right now. I have a bunch of disc backups from old discs that I ripped long ago as well as ISOs from a friend. Many of these have on them in addition to the default.xbe one or more backup xbe files in the main directory. When I setup my new HDD I used dvd2xbox to rip my backup discs, and it applied the ACLs, though I'm unaware if it did any other "patching". Some of these were multigame disks built with a menu system, so when they were copied back I then split them back out into their own folders. My guess is that dvd2xbox didn't process these as the normal game.

When I transferred the ISOs from Qwix I took to *not* checking off the patch box because I didn't know what it did and the games seemed to work without it.

So, in short - I don't know the full provenance of each game (because I first copied many of these years ago).

Why use ISOs when you have a HDD? All games were developed using a HDD so all of them should run off HDD when "FATX patched". Going through this thread I think it is a good idea to try out that program called GXISO. From my expericence, using original Xbox game disks and ripping them with DVD2Xbox has always worked apart from Activison's MTX Mototrax that was freezing in some carrier mode level. Since I don't play that game I did not solve that issue but I am quite sure there is a solution for this particular game as well.

Over the years, apart from DVD2Xbox, I have been using a Windows computer with XISO and also C-Xbox Tool but there have always been some ISOs that did not work on Xbox after extraction and ftp copy. Of cource, these were ISOs downloaded from net so that might be the reason why they did not work. You can never trust internet.

So my conclusion: no need to use ISOs on a HDD, get an original disk and copy that using DVD2Xbox with ACL patching enabled (which is by default). Am I right?

Why use ISOs when you have a HDD? All games were developed using a HDD so all of them should run off HDD when "FATX patched". Going through this thread I think it is a good idea to try out that program called GXISO. From my expericence, using original Xbox game disks and ripping them with DVD2Xbox has always worked apart from Activison's MTX Mototrax that was freezing in some carrier mode level. Since I don't play that game I did not solve that issue but I am quite sure there is a solution for this particular game as well.

Over the years, apart from DVD2Xbox, I have been using a Windows computer with XISO and also C-Xbox Tool but there have always been some ISOs that did not work on Xbox after extraction and ftp copy. Of cource, these were ISOs downloaded from net so that might be the reason why they did not work. You can never trust internet.

So my conclusion: no need to use ISOs on a HDD, get an original disk and copy that using DVD2Xbox with ACL patching enabled (which is by default). Am I right?

ISOs are disk images as I'm sure you know so having a HDD has nothing to do with them. If you said "Why use DVDs when you have an HDD" that would make sense, but the two are not mutually exclusive. Programs like GXISO and DVD2XBOX are banes in the sense that they rip out and patch the original disc, thus loosing the ability to restore it back to its original condition. As far as I can tell, none of the dashboards really need any of this patching done...at least not with a hardmod (I have an X3). When at all possible I restore any default.xbe original file as the main .xbe and I never seem to have problems running my backups. TBH I'm not 100% sure what all the "media paching" and "fatx patching" that the dvd2xbox ACLs do, but they seem not to be needed anymore. My guess is the launchers do that stuff in memory on the fly if necessary.

The main reason I was interested in the ISO was the FATX limitations. While you can always rename a file to fit within the FATX limitations, if the XBE isn't patched to look for that new file name, then it won't work. I know there are patches out there for most games to rename files and patch the XBE...I don't know if these are in the ACLs or not, but I have found them and manually patched the files.

There are however a handful of games that don't have patches (Prisoner of Azkaban is one), that can't be copied over and played because of these FATX limitations. From posts in this thread it seems like Rocky has some method for that, but it sounds like it might be for soft mods only.

Why the never mind Rocky? I'm always interested in what you have to say? Is there any way for me to play these FATX limited games with a hard mod?

thx.

I seen there was a new post, but tapped on it and it took me to the bottom of page 1and I replied like a (.) to that post when I seen I had done that I changed it.

I just read your post, you can use this (link) and edit the xbe paths.asm that’s in the source folder in the my setup folder to point to your dashboard xbe, then use the batch file to build the patcher.xbe.

That will give you XISO loading from the HDD on specific hacked bios.

This works with M8Plus ( for M8Plus you need the eject fix or it reboots the Xbox every time press eject ) ind-bios 5003, these are the only two that work 100%.

I have a setup that uses a patched M8Plus with eject fix via a BFM bios so anyone can use it, you fire a folder on C and point your bios to load the default.xbe file inside.M8Plus_Eject_Fix_BFM_Setup.zip

Dashloader.xbe will look for 15 different dashpaths, so should find your dashboard. This is what the patcher.xbe launches.
( default.xbe > bios > patcher.xbe > dashloader.xbe > your dashboard )

You will need an attach.xbe from discdriveutilites or you can use the script I done for XBMC that parses a folder you select and extracts the default.xbe from the XISO patches the attach.xbe with its certificate information ( so trainers work with the XISO ) and renames and folderizes your XISO I ages. It’s a batch process, will do multiple XISO one after another.

While you can always rename a file to fit within the FATX limitations, if the XBE isn't patched to look for that new file name, then it won't work.

I am quite sure this is exactly what DVD2Xbox is doing by default. It patches the XBE executables so that files load fine on FATX system. I had no problems transferring games like TOCA 2 from disk to HDD...

While you can always rename a file to fit within the FATX limitations, if the XBE isn't patched to look for that new file name, then it won't work.

I am quite sure this is exactly what DVD2Xbox is doing by default. It patches the XBE executables so that files load fine on FATX system. I had no problems transferring games like TOCA 2 from disk to HDD...

He’s talking about games that use long file names as a protection scheme.

Toca 3 ( Race driver ) is one of the games that requires a specific ACL file to patch the default.xbe with the new truncated filenames that DVD2Xbox changed them to when it rips the game to the HDD. The ACL file also patches the save game corruption protection, so no more corrupt save!
( not sure if Toca 2 has long file names )

Tony hawks wasteland I think also has long filename protection, but this can be patched with exe file run on a PC. ( never tried it, but it just searches the default.xbe for long file names and truncate them )

Harry Potter ( one of them ) the game screws you later on the in the game and there is no ACL patch for this game, so it’s XISO off the hdd or playback from the disc only for this game.

So unless you’re softmodded or you have a compatible bios ( for Virtual drive ) Harry Potter is a no go for you if played from the HDD.
( there maybe more games with long filename protection )

It was quite cliver what devs started to do to combat piracy, since the discs don’t use the FatX filesystem they aren’t constrained by the 42 character limit.
( simple check or a complex check to see if the file exists is all that was needed to know it’s run from the HDD )

I’m surprised they never checked if they could write to the root directory, since the dvd drive is read only it would always fail.

While you can always rename a file to fit within the FATX limitations, if the XBE isn't patched to look for that new file name, then it won't work.

I am quite sure this is exactly what DVD2Xbox is doing by default. It patches the XBE executables so that files load fine on FATX system. I had no problems transferring games like TOCA 2 from disk to HDD...

Yeah...what Rocky said. Also, while I initially thought dvd2xbox was a great program, I've come to loathe it.
Two reasons:
1) as I mentioned above the ACL files do more than just patch games that might require it, they *rip* things out of the games. Not everyone is looking to save a few MB on a ripped game and would rather keep the full contents of a game for posterity. Sure, most things like dash board updates aren't a big deal, but ripping out movies or extra languages is b-a-d. Not only this, the ACL files aren't written in a way to give you an option. AFAIAC there should have been 2 ACLs for each game. One to patch and one to rip out junk so that you could choose one or the other.

2) The other reason I don't like/trust dvd2xbox is it isn't reliable for file copy operations. You can see this very well if you take a disc that has some bad tracks - dvd2xbox will fail during the full disc rip operation (that is of course correct). However, if you go to the file manager and try to manually copy the bad files they will appear to copy over properly without any warning that the files couldn't be read properly. So, it appears you get good file transfer operations when in fact you are just getting garbage.

I can't tell you how many of my backups got ruined by the two above issues and not having the original discs anymore has put me in a spot where I believe dvd2xbox does more harm than good in many cases.

This guy here "Zorlon" has listed about 100 patches, about a dozen or so deal with HDD/long file name issues.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think he wrote them - so more than likely these are the same ones that found their way into ACL files if they exist.
Ofc it is possible that more than one person figured out the patching on them.

There are so few games out of the whole library that this really mattered on, so it almost isn't worth making a big deal out of it - but the issues still exist.

I do not trust custom made ACL files, especially those that delete files. I use only original DVD2Xbox. It only comes with default ACL and a small number of games that I do not own (except TOCA 2?) - you see it does patch the files: